WELSH TRADITIONS 7<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n CALAN GAEAF. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In this last article in the series of Welsh Traditions we\u2019ll look briefly at the traditions associated with Calan Gaeaf. <\/em>I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll remember that \u2018Calan\u2019 <\/em>is a Welsh word meaning \u2018the first day of<\/em>\u2019\u2019 – as in Calan Mai (May Day). Calan Gaeaf <\/em>celebrates the first day of winter – All Hallows Day on 1st November.<\/p>\n Calan Gaeaf <\/em>originates from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain<\/em>, which celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It was also the end of the \u2018slaughtering season\u2019 when animals were slaughtered and their meat prepared for winter. It was indeed the end of the agricultural year – and it was also the beginning of the Celtic Year.<\/p>\n The Celtic calendar divided the year in two – the light season and the dark season and Samhain marked the first day of the dark season – when it was believed that the doors dividing the world of the living from the spirit world were wide open. Noson Calan Gaeaf <\/em>– All Saints Eve <\/em>was one of the three \u2018Spirit Nights\u2019, (May Day Eve and St John\u2019s Festival Eve being the other two) – when the spirits of the dead and ghosts roamed freely – and were believed to gather in cemeteries, at crossroads and on stiles (for some reason!!). Some of these ghosts took on particular characterisations and two of the most common were said to be the headless White Lady and the Tail-less Black Sow. Tales of the White Lady are known to go back to Celtic times.<\/p>\n As with other celebrations which mark certain times of the year, it is an opportunity to bring some colour and revelry into the lives of the people, whose everyday lives were often hard – lacking in colour and lacking in just plain fun. Swedes were often carved and placed alongside roads and footpaths, with a burning candle inside. This is obviously the precursor of today\u2019s practice of pumpkin carving. Bonfires were usually lit – on a hilltop if that were possible – and groups of local youths would compete to see whose bonfire burnt the longest. People would dance around the fire with apples and potatoes roasted in the embers. Ghost stories and traditional folk tales would entertain the cavorters – especially the children who enjoyed being frightened with tales of the White Lady and the Black Sow!<\/p>\n Much superstition was also attributed to this time of year especially in a fortune telling capacity. The main questions to be answered were who was to be married and who was to meet an untimely death – and there were various ways of finding the answer. In some areas, every person would write his or her name on a pebble and throw it into the ashes of the dying fire. In the morning everyone would turn up to search for the pebbles – and if one was missing, that person was believed to be facing death in the near future. Another means of foretelling death in some areas was to run around the church three times before midnight, and then look through the keyhole<\/p>\n to see whose faces would be shown. These people were the people doomed to die during the coming year. In the Llandysul area three bowls would be filled – one with soil, one with water containing sediment and one with clean water. The participant would be blindfolded and would be asked to touch one of the bowls. The first prophesied death before marriage, the second a troubled marriage and the third a successful marriage.<\/p>\n It was popular for young, unmarried girls to peel an apple or an orange and throw the peel over their shoulder, in the hope that it would form the initial letter of their true love. In Montgomeryshire a mash of nine ingredients would be cooked, which included potatoes, carrots, turnips, peas, parsnips, leeks, pepper and salt and mixed with milk. In the centre a wedding ring was placed and each participant would taste a spoonful of the mash. The person lucky enough to find the ring was certain of an imminent marriage! In other areas girls were instructed to grow a rose in the shape of a large hoop, go through the circle three times prior to cutting a rose, and placing it under their pillows. This allowed them to see into the future. Another means of seeing the future was for unmarried women to darken their rooms during Noson Calan Gaeaf<\/em>, and then look into the mirror to see the face of the future groom. If a skull appeared in the mirror, the unmarried woman was meant to die within the year. Young lads were not forgotten either. The boys were instructed to cut 10 leaves of ivy, throw one away and put the other nine under their pillows. Apparently, this allowed the boys to see the future, and if they touched the ivy then they would see witches in their sleep.<\/p>\n Once the bonfire had died down, the children were encouraged to run to their homes. Traditional verses were chanted stating that the White Lady or the Black Sow would catch the last child and carry him or her away. This was one way of getting the children to go straight home!! In some areas, men would roam the local area – dressed up in the guise of one or other of the feared apparitions. Once safely back home, the children – and adults – would play games such as apple bobbing or the more dangerous version of trying to bite a dangling apple which also had a candle attached!<\/p>\n As at Christmas and May Day celebrations groups of youngsters would walk around the villages singing traditional songs. In Glamorgan, the boys dressed in girls\u2019 clothing and girls dressed in boys\u2019 clothing. In other parts of Wales, the singers would blacken their faces and wear fleeces on their shoulders.<\/p>\n Calan Gaeaf <\/em>falls on the eve of All Souls Day on 2nd November of course – but nowadays both festivals have merged to become Halloween – with the bonfires lit a couple of days later on Guy Fawkes Day. Unfortunately, today, our traditions and customs have been overtaken by the American \u2018Trick or Treat\u2019 activities.<\/p>\n Ann M. Jones<\/p>\n WELSH TRADITIONS 7 CALAN GAEAF. In this last article in the series of Welsh Traditions we\u2019ll look briefly at the traditions associated with Calan Gaeaf. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll remember that \u2018Calan\u2019 is a Welsh word meaning \u2018the first day of\u2019\u2019 – as in Calan Mai (May Day). Calan Gaeaf celebrates the first day of winter – All Hallows Day on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3Rv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14259,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14259","url_meta":{"origin":14849,"position":0},"title":"Welsh Traditions 2 Calan Mai – May Day","author":"Alan Williams","date":"16th May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WELSH TRADITIONS 2 CALAN MAI - MAY DAY In the old Celtic Year, the summer season consisted of the months of May, June and July so the first day of May was also the first day of summer. The Welsh name for July - Gorffennaf - testifies to this as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14121,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14121","url_meta":{"origin":14849,"position":1},"title":"The Arrival Of Spring","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING Here we are in April and Spring has arrived at last, a delightful season of nature awakening from its winter sleep, giving the landscapes vibrant colours and filling the air with the sweet fragrance of flowers. As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Picture1-295x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13924,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13924","url_meta":{"origin":14849,"position":2},"title":"New Year Traditions In Wales","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"NEW YEAR TRADITIONS IN WALES \u00a0 As we in Wenvoe celebrate the arrival of the New Year with a bottle of fizz, watching the fireworks from around the world on television, and by singing a few lines of Auld Lang Syne, there are many very old New Year's traditions in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Picture1-249x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15485,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15485","url_meta":{"origin":14849,"position":3},"title":"Happy Mayday","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE FORUM Considering Tomorrow Today HAPPY MAYDAY This time of year does seem to be a time for looking forward. Spring, in this part of the world, is definitely here; the trees are well greened up , plants poking their heads up and I am pleased to say the hops\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for May 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for May 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=421"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture9-1-207x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14657,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14657","url_meta":{"origin":14849,"position":4},"title":"Welsh Traditions 6 – Medi – Harvest","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WELSH TRADITIONS 6 MEDI - HARVEST The Welsh word \u2018medi\u2019 is a verb meaning \u2018to reap\u2019 or \u2018to harvest\u2019 and as a proper noun, \u2018Medi\u2019, is the name of the ninth month of the year, namely September - the month when the crops are harvested, of course. The English word\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gleaners.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gleaners.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gleaners.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gleaners.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14151,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14151","url_meta":{"origin":14849,"position":5},"title":"Welsh Traditions","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WELSH TRADITIONS In this short series we\u2019ll take a step back in time to remind ourselves of some of the interesting traditions which took place in Wales in the past. We\u2019ll begin with a look at what in Welsh are called \u2018Merched y Gerddi\u2019 - literally translated, \u2018The Garden Girls\u2019.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14849"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14850,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14849\/revisions\/14850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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